Story+2005-05-11+Rosemont,+IL

´´(?)....good to see you....wrote a, uh, bunch of songs on this record, uh....´Devils&Dust,´ which will, uh (some people applaud) no, no, no, uh, no syncophantic applause, please, it makes me uncomfortable but uh....´Devils&Dust,´ soon-to-be on sale in Dunkin´ Donuts´ across the country....you can get a jelly donut and get one of those at the same time, it´s, it´s great....and I wrote a lot of songs about mothers and sons and, you know, you have those kids and it´s, it´s a cliche but it´s the same thing for everybody, I remember that first one come out and ´Jesus, Jesus has been born,´ you know, the manger, the manger has been moved to Los Angeles, California (chuckles) you go outside and want everybody to stop shopping and, uh, stop driving around and, uh, don´t they understand that in, in that hospital right there (chuckles) but, uh, about fourteen years later, uh, Jesus thinks you´re an idiot, that´s....it´s part of the, part of the job, I suppose....uh, you´re always thinking you´re not gonna make the same mistakes your folks did and, and some of them you get right and some of them you miss, this is kind of a song about, about that idea, seconds chances you get, I had my kids out west, it gave me, so I´ve always kind of looked at that part of country as a ....place for a little re-birth and, uh, this is trying not to make the same mistakes twice, this is called ´Long Time Comin´....´´
 * 11.05.05 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Long Time Comin´´´**

´´Spent the, uh, last ten years or so living around some horses and so....what always, it, it surprises you how a good one takes care of you....´cause I had no idea what I was doing (chuckles) and uh....this is a song about a young boy who loses his mother and, uh, views her spirit in a horse that comes out of the mountains at night, this is called ´Silver Palomino´....´´
 * 11.05.05 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Silver Palomino´´**

´´So I, uh....I didn´t write a lot of love songs when I started out, uh....guess I wasn´t feeling that much love so....uh....but I had, had a lot of, I got sort of off on the wrong foot at the whole thing, uh, my mother used to have the radio on in the morning and it was the late ´50s, I was in grammar school, and the radio was filled with like all this fabulous, fabulous doo-wop singing, you had all these men attempting to sound like a beautiful woman and, uh, which was a terrific thing, I, I´m not sure what it was all about but, uh, but, uh, it was, it was like they were trying to transcend their own, their own bodies and, and it was all the ecstasies of love and pain of not having love and, and everything was just the woman and, uh, a lot of, uh, very severe 1950´s style horniness in there also....very, very, very intense and beautiful music and PBS, they had this fellow, Mr. T.J.Lubinsky, I think his name is, and he puts on the PBS-shows where they do the fund-drives and he gets all the old groups together and he did one with all the doo-wop singers and it was just great to watch these guys come onstage and he´s good, he tries to get all the authentic guys and he gets them all onstage and they, they, 60, 70 year old men singing, uh, with their voices still intact and just these uplifting voices, you know, it, it gave me a lot of hope for myself actually....I´ll be, uh, I´ll be with Mr.Lubinsky soon.....but actually, I think I knew, I think I knew his dad, his dad was a guy named Buzzy Lubinsky from the Shore, he actually lived on the Jersey shore, made a living playing, uh....playing drums to records but, uh....uh, but that, so every morning I was filled with, with that sound and, but there was sort of a counter-balance to that and that was my dad at the kitchen table who explained to me in no uncertain terms that all love songs were a goverment conspiracy....and, uh, the idea was to get you married and you have to pay, pay taxes and....I mean why not? it´s logical, it´s logical, like, you know, ´Ok, we have a bunch of old trailers and we´ll convince people that they´re mobile weapons´ labs´.... (?) oil industry...(?) love songs, anyway, so what I did, my solution was to hide them, I would hide them, I would hide them in all my early music, went back and found them there, but they were pretty hidden so, uh....I went in search of some of them, here´s what they have ....(?)....´´
 * 11.05.05 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Incident On 57th Street´´**

´´Evolution....Kansas Board of Education decided it´s time to throw that one out (?).... President says jury´s out, it´s out on evolution....the whole thing is just too iffy....personally, I think the President believes in evolution....he´s been around the block....but the monkey-vote didn´t put him in office, let´s face it....so he´s doing what he´s gotta do.....so he can do what he wants to do, like a lot of other folks....Karl Rowe - I´m not sure he believes in evolution.... but I´m pretty sure he believes in Satan....(?)....now, ´Inherit the Wind,´ the movie they made about the Scopes Monkey Trial with Spencer Tracy....couldn´t play that in theaters today, that´d be picketed, Spencer Tracy would be attacked as the Devil´s tool....The Flintstones - couldn´t make it today....too controversial....the whole Barney-Fred-relationship....(?).... actually, they´d probably just test it in front of some evangelicals....what is the matter with Kansas anyway?.... (....) We´ve come a long way, baby....and we´re going back.....´´
 * 11.05.05 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Part Man Part Monkey´´**

´´Alright....one of the love songs that I don´t hide any more (chuckles)...a tribute to the ecstasies of love....it´s called ´Maria´s Bed´....´´
 * 11.05.05 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Maria´s Bed´´**

´´A couple of youngsters out there tonight, this song....might wanna check out the t-shirt sales out there for the next one (chuckles)....I´ll give you a heads-up....there´s some fine items out there....for the youngsters....this is a song about, uh, not being able to handle, handle a real love so you try something else and, uh, it doesn´t work out so good either, I guess....´´
 * 11.05.05 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Reno´´**

´´(?) an incredibly special piece of equipment....a piano that cannot, it´s so special that it can only be onstage for one song....got it from eBay....[off-mike: ´How you doing, Vince?´].... the men who slave behind the scenes....(?)....´´
 * 11.05.05 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Paradise´´**

´´Thank you....I was, uh, brought up in Catholic school (some people cheer) which means.... those are folks who were not brought up in Catholic school (chuckles) which means that Jesus is my homeboy....and uh....I went to write a song, wrote a lot of songs about mothers and sons, ´Silver Palomino´ and, uh, the one I´ll sing in a minute, so I was interested in the relationship between Jesus and Mary and Mary as, as His mother, to her, she was, He was just her boy and, uh, I sort of tried to re-imagine that in those terms and, uh, your children have destinies of their own that you have to respect and yes....you know, you want to always care for them....and how our choices are defined by the things we sacrifice, what gives our choices meaning are the things we give up when we choose, this is ´Jesus Was An Only Son´.... (....) //at His mother´s feet....//I think the first thing that shocks you when you have your kids is how there is nothing, nothing in the world you wouldn´t do for them safe to be safe, to protect them and keep them from the pain that....that the world´s gonna throw at ´em.....and that is, some way it´s their right.... (....) //shall pierce your dreams this night....//I always figured that our choices, what gives them meaning are the things we give up....so I always figured He had to be thinking....´That Galilee´s pretty nice this time of year....that little bar down there, I could manage the place, Mary Magdalene could tend bar....we could have some kids....and watch them grow up.... feel the sun on your face....and feel the air, the breath in your lungs....a pretty good life´....´´
 * 11.05.05 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Jesus Was An Only Son´´**

´´Well, we all carry the seeds of our own destruction....kind of comes with the human package....as well as the seeds of creativity and love and, uh, it can be a pretty good wrestling match (chuckles) between those things, as you can observe outside the doors of this theater (chuckles) but uh, this is a song about a fellow just coming down on the right side of the equation....a song called ´Leah,´ which I stole from Roy Orbison, he had a song called ´Leah´ about a pearl-diver and, uh, I was telling the folks the other night, Roy could sing abou anything, you know, I, I had the luck of meeting him before he passed away and went to his house one afternoon and he had a new song he wanted to play me about a windsurfer....(?) windsurfing, I didn´t say it to him but I thought to myself ´That ain´t gonna fly!´....that killed John Kerry on the election, windsurfing, it´s not gonna work in a song.... so, uh, uh, surfing - that works, windsurfing - I don´t want it, doesn´t work.....why not? but, uh, at any rate, uh, of course the record came out, there was a beautiful song about windsurfing on it (chuckles) thought me a good lesson (chuckles) but this is my ´Leah´ and, uh....so here´s to coming down on the right side of that equation....´´
 * 11.05.05 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Leah´´**

´´This is a song, kind of, uh, plays the flipside of that equation, just falling to, falling into the seeds of your own destruction and I´ve written quite a few of these (chuckles) to make myself feel better (chuckles) but uh....I also grew up around a real crushing hand of fate, let me see how you can get under things you can´t get out of from under for a whole variety of reasons and, uh, this is a song about a young man who has to leave home, leaves for New Orleans, becomes a boxer, comes back at the end of his life and has this conversation with his mother through a locked door....Freud, where are you when we need you? (chuckles) never far away, alright....´´
 * 11.05.05 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´The Hitter´´**

´´This, uh, this is a song I wrote as a sequel to ´Across The Border´ and, uh, it kind of takes....it´s the same setting, uh, a man makes the same journey across the desert fuelled by the same hopes and love for his partner and desire to live a better life, send a little money back home....but every year hundreds of people die trying to enter the United States, they die in the rivers and in the deserts and in our mountains....in the backs of trucks and, uh....rather than vigilantes out on the border, we are sorely in need of a humane immigration policy.... well, I wrote this song backwards from the body at the bottom of the river to the trip across the desert to standing on the banks of Matamoros, a town across from Brownsville, Texas, this is called ´Matamoros Banks´....´´
 * 11.05.05 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Matamoros Banks´´**

´´I´m gonna do this tonight for the folks from the Greater Chicago Food Depository....doing frontline work here in Chicago, they can use your support....provide help for Chicago´s struggling citizens, you see them on the way out, please stop and give ´em a hand, they can use your time or your donations, this is for the folks from the Greater Chicago Food Depository....[after singing till the end of the second chorus, Bruce´s guitar string breaks] oh, we´re screwed now....[Bruce ends up singing acapella till he gets the guitar back]....´´
 * 11.05.05 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´Land Of Hope And Dreams´´**

´´Thank the Lord for happy accidents (?)(chuckles)....I wanna thank everybody for coming out the show tonight, thank you very much, I hope you had a great time.....I also wanna say, uh, I appreciate you being a great audience, it´s a lot of fun to play like this and it takes, we really gotta work in concert and I just wanna say I´ve had great audiences on this tour, you guys were just fabulous tonight, I appreciate it....´´
 * 11.05.05 Chicago, IL, intro to ´´The Promised Land´´ (following ´Land Of Hope And Dreams´)**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//